swift



W. E. SWIFT.

CABINET FOR PAPER DRINKING CUP'S.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 15. 1912.

1,379,228. Patented May 24,1921.

fnvenior Milard Minesses Wu i/farmy UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WEBER-11E. SWIFT, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED STATES ENVELOPE COMPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION 01 Be it known that I, WILLARD E. Swrrr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Worcester, in the county of Worcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in a Cabinet forPaper Drinking-Cups, of which the following is a specification accompanied by drawings forming a part of the same.

My invention relates to a cabinet adapted to hold a stack of aper drinking cups and havin means for t e removal of individual drinking cups as they are required for use. My invention is hereinafter described and represented in the accompanying drawings as embodied in a referred form of construction, by which t e cups are held and protected from dust and from contact with the hands of the users, the novel features being pointed out in the annexed claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a cabinet embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on the plane of the broken line 3-3, Fi 2.

Fig. 4 represents the outline of a paper drinking cup adapted to be held in the cabinet represented in Figs. 1 to 3.

Sim1lar reference characters refer to similar arts in the different figures.

The cabinet embodying my present invention is particularly designed to contain drinkin cups which are collapsed, and in their co lapsed form are wider at one end than the other, as represented at A, Fig. 4, having divergent sides 1, making the top 3 of the cup wider than the bottom 2. he cup represented in Fig. 4 has its top edge curved with one side cut away at 4 to form a thumb opening and facilitate in the separation of the sides of the cup.

The cabinet represented 1n the accompanying drawings comprises a case 5 having arallel vertical sides 6, 6 and a vertical ack 7 rovided with flanges 8, 8 which are attached to the sides 6, 6 by rivets 9, 9. At the rear vertical edges of the flanges 8, 8 the casing is provided with outwardly turned flanges 10, 10 by which the cabinet may be attached to a vertical wall by screws through the screw holes 11, 11. The lower end of the chamber inclosed in the casing 5 is nearly closed by an inclined bottom 12, leaving a narrow slot or opening 13 between Patented May 24, 1921.

Application filed June 15, 1912. Serial No. 708,807.

i CABINET FOB PAPER DRINKING-CUPS.

1,379,228. Specification of Letters Patent.

To all'whom it may concern:

the lower edge of the bottom 12 and the lower edge of the vertical back 7 of the easing, said opening 13 being of suflicientj height to allow a single drinking cup to pass freely. The central portion of the lower edge of the inclined bottom is cut away at 14 to provide an o ening for the admission of the thumb or nger of the operator in seizingx the edge of a paper cup.

Wit in the casing 5 are the vertical side walls 15, 15 having flanges 16, 16 which are attached to the vertical back 7 of the casing. The sides 15 are also attached by rivets 17 to the sides 6, 6 of the casing and near their front edges and from the sides of the casing the sides 15 are bent inwardly forming flanges 18, 18. The space inclosed between the flanges 18 and the vertical back 7 and between the inclined side walls 15, 15 has a shape corresponding to that of the paper cup represented in Fig. 4, allowing a stack of paper cups to be held therein in the position indicated by the broken lines 19 Fig. 3.

The front 20 and top 21 of the casing 5 are formed from a single piece provided with flanges 22, 23 which overlap the sides of the casing, the single piece forming a cover for the front and top of the casing which is hinged to the bottom 12 by hinges 24. The hinged cover is retained in a closed position by means of a staple 25, has 26 and padlock 27. The inclined side wal s 15 extend from the top of the casing to the lower edge of the vertical back 7, leaving a 'space 28 of uniform width between the lower edges of the sides 15 and the bottom 12 to enable the lowermost drinking cu in the stack to be withdrawn through t e opening 13.

At the rear of the vertical back 7 I place a pair of elastic blade springs 29, having attached to their lower ends semicircular rubber blocks 30 which enter through openings 31 in the vertical back 7 and are adapted to press against the rear ed es of the drinking cu s in the lower ortion of the stack immedlately above the owermost cup in the stack. The tension of the springs 29 may be adjusted by means of nuts 32 carried on screw threaded bolts 33 which are held in the vertical back 7. The vertical wall to which the cabinet is attached is represented in Figs. 2 and 3 by the line 34-34, and the flanges 8 are of sufficient width to bring the vertical back 7 and opening 13 sufy in the position represented by lines 19. Thecover is then 0 0 sedand' the bottom of the lowermost cu presented at the opening 13 is seized by t e operator and withdrawn from the cabinet. A weight is preferably placed onthe top of thestack and; as the lowermost cup iswithdrawn, the

entire stack is moved downward by: the

weight, bringing the-nextsucceeding cup intoposition opposite'the openingwl3. -As each of the cups is brought a ainst the inclined bottom 12, the bottom 0 the-cup will project slightly beyond the bottom of the next cup above itowing to the inclined position of the cups, and the restraint due to the pressure of the rubber blocks 30 against the edges of the cups next the lowermost cup, enabling the edge of the cup to be the broken seized by the operator and drawn through the opening 13. The top ofthe lowermost cup while'in position on "the inclined bottom 12"will be plnched betweenthe bottom 12 and. theflsuperimposed stack, holding the lowermost cup 'from longitudinal displacement.

' I claim, I

In a cabinet for a stack of collapsed drinking cups, a casing for inclosing the cups having an inclinedbottom, and? a slit between the lower edge of the "bottom and one ofthe side walls ofthecabinegsprings attached to said side wall, and rubber blocks carried bythe free-ends ot-said springs and bearingagainst the edges-of the cups lmmediatelyabove'the lowermostcup 

